IURA committee recommends about $280,000 in CDBG awards for three job-placement programs

Ithaca Urban Renewal Agency (IURA) committee members on [date not specified] registered unanimous support for a recommendation to allocate roughly $280,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds across three local job-placement programs and forward that recommendation to the Neighborhood Investment Committee (NI) and the full agency for final action.

Nels, an IURA staff member, told the committee the packet contained an updated grant matrix and revised job-placement figures from project sponsors and noted the federal continuing resolution under discussion in Congress indicates CDBG and HOME funding could remain at last year’s nationwide levels. “Literally on the table is before you 3 pieces of paper,” Nels said, summarizing the updated spreadsheets and the specific 2021–2023 and 2024 program numbers.

The committee’s working recommendation would allocate approximately $135,000 to Finger Lakes Reuse, $80,000 to GIAC (Greater Ithaca Activities Center), and $65,000 to Historic Ithaca — a combined total of about $280,000 — to be proposed by the IURA subgroup to the NI. Committee members emphasized that this recommendation was not a formal binding vote by the full agency; one member described the endorsement as registered and unanimous at the committee level.

Why it matters: The committee is working within the IURA’s HUD entitlement plan process to decide how to apportion limited CDBG funds among competing categories (public services, housing, economic development and public facilities). Some housing projects are not eligible for CDBG and must be funded through HOME or other sources, so decisions about job-placement funding affect what remains for housing and public facilities.

Key details and committee concerns

- Eligibility and FY uncertainty: The staff presentation stressed that eligibility rules and the uncertain federal appropriation complicate exact totals. Some projects — notably new residential construction such as Habitat’s 610 West Court Street project — are generally not eligible for CDBG except for specific line items (for example, land acquisition). Nels flagged the Habitat request as $95,000 total with $80,000 identified as a land-acquisition component that could be CDBG-eligible.

- Southside Resiliency Hub: Committee members described the Southside Community Center resiliency hub application as a high-cost, partly developed public-facility proposal with a total budget they estimated between roughly $900,000 and $2,000,000 and a reported $200,000 city commitment tied to kitchen improvements. The committee agreed the hub is a risky, under-documented project for the scale of requested funds and that the NI should review it closely.

- Metrics and comparability: Members debated cost-per-job and retention metrics in the updated table. Committee members cautioned that the three job programs serve different populations and use different models (for example, some programs pay stipends for participants while others do not), making apples-to-apples comparisons difficult. The committee discussed improving reporting requirements going forward (tracking part-time vs. full-time, retention periods and longer-term outcomes) to better evaluate program effectiveness.

- Recommended amounts and rationale: Committee members discussed multiple allocation scenarios (flat percentages, scaled funding, or prioritizing low cost-per-job). On balance they favored a proportional recommendation that gives substantial but not full awards to each of the three returning programs because of limited funds and uneven recent placement outcomes: Finger Lakes Reuse (most of its request, ~90%), Historic Ithaca (roughly the same share it has received historically, ~95%), and GIAC (a deeper cut because recent placement rates were lower).

- ED loan fund and capitalization: Staff noted the IURA’s economic development (ED) loan pool has approximately $200,000 available for new loans and that loan-program income after costs is roughly $160,000 annually. Committee members discussed leaving the loan fund at current capitalization for the coming year rather than allocating additional CDBG to recapitalize it, given uncertain future entitlement funding.

Process and next steps

The committee’s recommendation will go to the Neighborhood Investment Committee for review; the NI may accept, modify or reject it before the full IURA acts. Committee members noted that the NI typically narrows or reassigns funding and that the IURA’s final allocation could differ from the committee’s recommendation. Members also agreed on adding clearer reporting expectations for recipients so the committee has better outcome data in future cycles.

Ending

Committee members registered their recommendation at the meeting and asked staff to forward materials and the NI’s subsequent recommendations back to the committee and agency for final decisions. Specific award amounts and final allocations remain subject to NI and full agency review and to any change in federal CDBG/HOME appropriations.